This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 44, December
11-17, 2005
LABOR WATCH
3-Day Strike at Tommy
Hilfiger Shirt Factory Ends
Workers of a clothing
factory chose to fight for their benefits and went on strike, a decidedly
unfashionable course of action these days. They won – in just three days.
by Dennis Espada
Bulatlat
CABUYAO, Laguna – Workers of a clothing factory
producing Tommy Hilfiger shirts decided to engage in what is today an
unfashionable course of action – to go on strike. Unlike in other strikes, the
workers of Maxglory Apparel Inc. got their demands in just three days.
Last Dec. 3, the 37 regular employees of
Maxglory Apparel Inc. that went on strike ended their protest after a dialogue
with the management. The latter agreed to grant the workers their separation pay
which is equivalent to 150% of their 45-day salary multiplied by the number of
years of service. The benefit package includes payments for the three-month
strike duration and vacation and sick leaves.
According to Tom Dimailig of the Cabuyao
Worker’s Alliance (CAWAL), the worker’s union won their battle because of the
massive support of the community and other local unions.
“Maayos naman ang negosasyon sa may-ari ng
kumpanya na nagpunta mismo sa piketlayn at humarap sa mga manggagawa
(The negotiation went well. The company owner
himself went to the picketline to face the workers),” he said, referring to
Filipino-Chinese Ulysses Young, owner of Maxglory.
The Maxglory Apparel Employees Independent Union
went to strike last Dec. 1 because of management refusal to negotiate in the
collective bargaining agreement (CBA), low wages, union-busting and the
company’s illegal closure.
Composed mostly of women, the workers received
P194.75 (US$3.61) per day which is way below the reclassified P259 (US$4.80)
wage laid down by the Regional Tripartite Wage Board-Bureau of Labor
Relations-Region IV-A (RTPWB-RIV-A).
Dimailig said that before the bilateral
settlement, there was an attempt to harass the picketline when the management
tried to dispatch at least two buses loaded with “scabs” whose entry was
thwarted by the strikers.
Located in Barangay Pulo here, Maxglory exports
shirt products to known brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren,
Quicksilver, American Eagle, Walt Disney and Paxsan.
Sweatshops
“Maxglory workers are victims of an
international scale of ‘labour flexibilization’ such as subcontracting. Big
companies such as Tommy Hilfiger take advantage of it, thru its subcontractors
like Maxglory, exploiting the cheap labor in the Philippines,” Luz Baculo,
secretary-general of the Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan-Kilusang
Mayo Uno (Unity of Workers in Southern Tagalog-May First Movement) said in a
statement.
Tommy Hilfiger is a multi-billion dollar company
known globally for men’s and ladies’ wear, jeans and fragrances. It was named
after a famous American fashion designer.
On Sept. 15, 2004, another apparel company,
Fashion House Garments Inc. in Carmona, Cavite, closed down, resulting in the
displacement of more than 1,000 contractual workers. Aside from being denied of
their overtime pay and back wages, employees were also forced to work non-stop
for 21 hours and were given medicines to keep them awake and endure exhaustion.
The Korean-owned subcontractor manufactures branded clothes like GAP, Old Navy
and Allison.
Pamantik-KMU said trade liberalization has
allowed the proliferation of sweatshops and the infringement of minimum wage
levels and other labor standards to entice foreign investments. Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
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